"Invisible Ink is a powerful tool for anyone who wants to become a better screenwriter. With elegance and precision, Brian McDonald uses his deep understanding of story and character to pass on essential truths about dramatic writing. Ignore him at your peril."
—Jim Taylor (Academy Award?- winning screenwriter of Sideways and Election)

Monday, July 09, 2012

Movies I Like: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

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If you weren’t around in 1982 you missed a crazy-good year
for film. I have often said that it was the last great year for movies. Some
disagree and I have heard all of the arguments to the contrary. But I tell you
there was something about that year that I have not seen repeated since. The
number of great, classics, influential or just plan fun movies to be released
in 1982 is stunning. Here are just a few:

That’s a few of them and I suspect that even you younger
readers have heard of one or two of these. This is not to say that I love every
film listed above—I only mean to point out the quality, number, and variety of
the films you had to choose from in ‘82.

Star Trek II is
considered by many to be the best film in the Star Trek franchise. I think that’s probably true because it is
the only Star Trek movie that is
A MOVIE first and foremost. It aims to engage and entertain those who are not
diehard fans. It tells a story—not only that, it tells a good story and it
tells it well.

The Wrath of Khan’s
story was conceived by producer Harve Bennett, who wrote
an outline for the film, and then brought on writer Jack B. Sowards to write
the screenplay.

The film’s director was Nicholas Meyer, himself a novelist and
no slouch as a writer. (He had already written and directed a film called Time After Time about Jack the Ripper escaping
into the 20th century using H.G. Wells’ time machine, so Wells must track him
down. It’s a fun movie.)

When Myer was brought in, the script needed help and he
rewrote the movie in 12 days, though he did not take a writing credit. The
story was a kind of sequel to an episode of the original Star Trek television series called “Space Seed,” where the
crew of the USS Enterprise does battle with Khan—a genetically enhanced human
being.

Ricardo Montalbán as Khan

Star Trek II starts
with what looks like a dangerous mission: a starship must decide whether to
cross into an area called the Neutral Zone to rescue a ship in trouble, but to
cross into this Neutral Zone is an act of war. The person in the captain’s
chair decides to risk war and attempt a rescue. This is seen as an act of
aggression by the enemy (the Klingons) who attack the starship. During the
attack, many of the bridge officers are killed, including Mister Spock.

When all is lost, a door slides open, and a figure enters
and calls for the lights to be turned up—this is Captain (now-Admiral) Kirk.
With his entrance the “dead” rise and brush themselves off.

This, it turns, out is a simulation—a test called the
Kobayashi Maru designed to put young officers in the position of having to make
an impossible decision—a “no-win scenario.” It is a chance for them to face
death.

Doctor McCoy questions staffing the Starship Enterprise with
inexperienced cadets and mentions it to Kirk as the old bridge crew looks on.

McCoy
Admiral, wouldn't it be easier to put an experienced crew back on the ship?

Kirk
Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor.
(Exits)

Uhura
Now, what is that supposed to mean?

Soon after this opening Kirk meets up with his old friend
Spock. Upon seeing him, Kirk jokes, referring to the simulation, “Aren’t you
dead?” This is a bit of foreshadowing because this is a film where Spock does
die.

See how the film has just begun, and already the subjects of
death and aging have already come up so naturally? Not missing a beat, it is in
this scene where Spock presents Kirk with a birthday gift—an old book.

Kirk

(readingfrom book) "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." —Message,
Spock?

Spock
None that I'm conscious of. Except of course; happy birthday! —Surely the best
of times.

The book is of course
Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and
its opening line matters in this story. Kirk does not seem to be happy about
his birthday—for him this is not the best of times.

Later,
Kirk’s old friend Dr. McCoy drops by Kirk’s home with a birthday gift. Along
with a bottle of alien spirits, McCoy also brings the gift of reading glasses. Again,
the idea of aging.

It
comes up here that Kirk is not happy being an administrator, but he is feeling
his age and feels as he said before that “galloping around the cosmos is
a game for the young.”

McCoy
Dammit, Jim, what the hell is the matter with you? Other people have birthdays,
why are we treating yours like a funeral?

(He could have just as easily
said, “Dammit, Jim, this should be the best of times and you’re treating it as
the worst of times!”)

These dualities of old and young,
life and death, creation and destruction are at the center of this piece.

For the sake of space I will move
quickly through some of the story.

Khan, an old enemy of Kirk’s,
takes over a starship called The Reliant to seek revenge on Kirk. Khan has also
found out about something called “Project Genesis.” He finds a way to lure Kirk
into a trap, in part using an old love interest of Kirk’s, Dr. Carol Marcus,
who is in charge of Project Genesis.

Kirk, not suspecting that he is about to be attacked, is
caught off-guard when The Reliant, a starship in his own fleet, fires on his ship
causing major damage.

It is at this point, when the Enterprise is crippled in
space, that Khan reveals himself as the attacker. He demands that Kirk
surrender and transfer all information regarding Project Genesis over to him.
Kirk is able to stall Khan for a moment while he “receives” the Genesis data;
we see Kirk hesitate as he puts on his eyeglasses, a symbol of the weaknesses
of age.

Kirk manages to outsmart Khan and cripple his ship in
return. Now Kirk goes with Spock and McCoy to see just what this Genesis
Project is. They learn that it is a kind of missile that when deployed to a
dead moon can turn the lifeless world into a thriving ecosystem. This is the
discussion that follows:

McCoy

Dear Lord. You think we're intelligent
enough to... suppose...what if this thing were used where life already exists?

Spock

It would destroy such life in favor
of its new matrix.

McCoy

Its "new matrix"? Do you
have any idea what you're saying?

Spock

I was not attempting to evaluate
its moral implications, Doctor. As a matter of cosmic history, it has always
been easier to destroy than to create.

McCoy

Not anymore; now we can do both at
the same time! According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now, watch
out! Here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes!

McCoy

Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn
to govern your passions; they will be your undoing. Logic suggests...

From a story construction standpoint, Project Genesis is
brilliant—it both creates life and destroys it. Again, this duality of life and
death intermingled.

Because I don’t like these posts to get too long (too late),
I won’t go through the entire film, but I could. This life/death young/old
thing never lets up. During the film, Kirk meets his son: Birth. And he also
loses his best friend: Death.

It comes out that Kirk cheated when he took the Kobayashi
Maru as a cadet. He has never faced death until now. But seeing his friend
gallantly sacrifice his life so that others could live teaches Kirk the value
of facing death head on.

Notice how even Spock’s death is about the duality of life
and death—he dies to save lives.

Near the film’s end when Kirk sits down to read the book
that Spock gave him for his birthday, he finds that his glasses are broken. He
is not an old man. He then has this talk with his son:

David Marcus

Lieutenant Slavic was right: You
never have faced death.

Kirk

No. Not like this. I haven't faced
death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself
on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing.

David Marcus

You knew enough to tell Saavik that
how we face death is at least as important as how we face life.

Kirk

Just words.

David Marcus

But good words.

Lastly, as Kirk looks out at the newly formed Genesis planet,
where they have deposited the body of Spock, he recites some of A Tale of
Two Cities:

Kirk

It's a far, far better thing I do
than I have ever done before. A far better resting place that I go to than I
have ever known.

Carol Marcus

Is that a poem?

Kirk

No. Something Spock was trying to
tell me. On my birthday.

McCoy

You okay, Jim? How do you feel?

Kirk

Young. I feel young.

"Young. I feel young."

This kind of focus on theme is the kind of thing I rarely
see anymore, but it is powerful when it is used. In the case of Star Trek II it created both a hit and a classic. I wish more
screenwriters would follow Khan’s
lead.

4 comments:

Hey Brian, it's David Coe. Thanks for posting on this film. I just rewatched it, and it was fantastic. I love how the film opens up right off the bat with the Kobayashi Maru simulation (redefining a life-death situation; as I see it, a test of character), as well as poignant talk of life and death, and how the Kobayashi Maru is subsequently used throughout the film. When Kirk first encounters Khan: stalling for time while preparing to attack (disarming his shields). Then next when Kirk tricks Khan by speaking in code about how long it will take to ready the Enterprise, and lastly by luring Khan into the nebula, where the battlefield will be even. In each case Kirk employs "original thinking" to stave off certain death. But finally Spock faces a life or death situation where "original thinking" will not save the day; he has but one logical choice, to face death and save the many. His logical Vulcan mind recognizes this almost instantly. So he goes where "no human" can go, to enable the warp drive. Kirk's solutions were clever (in Kirk's own words "cheating") - but Spock actually dies as his solution. A duality there for sure. And in doing so, Kirk has to finally face death, the death of his close friend. I also enjoy Kirk as a flawed hero; he partially caused the problem by marooning Khan 15 years prior. Kirk is Khan's "white whale". And Kirk encounters his former lover (an "old wound"), who didn't think Kirk fit to be a father, and never even told him about her son. Just fantastic stuff, every line adding to the wonderful meditation on life and death that pervades the film. The crew at the space station gave their lives, that Dr. Carol and a few others would live. Spock dies, and we are all but told that he will be reborn. Life from death. On just a "whoa that's cool" level I am blown away with the entrance of Kirk & Khan onto the screen, and their electric enmity during their scenes together, even though they aren't even in the same room! Definitely my favorite Trek film. Khan is a wonderful villain, beautifully played by Malteban (ear bugs, yes!). The end of Kirk's eulogy was stunning. "And how we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life, wouldn't you say?"

I saw this for the first time in decades recently, and yeah, you hit it exactly: it's the only "Star Trek" movie that's a movie first and "Star Trek" second. It plain feels different than the rest. It earns your attention through story, rather than assuming you're excited simply to hang out with your Starfleet friends again.

Plus, it gave a generation the urge to yell into the sky "KHAAAAAAAAN! Khaaaaaaan! khaaaaaan!" Which is awesome.